Last week we gave you a little peek into our Halloween costume making obsession.  I have to admit that even I think we go overboard sometimes – and this year was no exception. But honestly, when you ask your 4 year old what he wants to be for Halloween & his response is: “Da bwack Jedi Angwy Bird fwom Angwy Birds STAR WARS!!” you simply CANNOT disappoint.  I mean…ok yes – he’s obsessed with Angry Birds.  But he’s 4 and knows the words ‘Jedi’ and ‘Star Wars.’ I must be doing something right…

And when he sees the finished product and his face lights up like this??

Well every second of that sleepless night and all the hot glue gun burns are suddenly all worth it.

Wondering how we pulled this one off?

How to make a DIY Angry Birds Costume

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 2 round plastic mesh food covers
• black fabric (we used flannel for some added warmth, but really any black will do)
• foam craft sheets (white, black, orange, grey & yellow)
• small strip of tan coloured fabric (we used burlap)
• brown adult sized t-shirt
• black ski mask
• black pants & black long-sleeved shirt (for your child to wear)

Tools:

• rotary tool w/cutting blade & drill bit
• hot glue gun
• duct tape
• 4 cable tie fasteners

NOTE: I’m gonna try to use lots of pics & keep the wordy explanations to a minimum while still covering all the steps.  I said I’ll try.  I’ll probably fail.  But in case I miss anything, if you have any questions on any part of the DIY feel free to ask away in the comments below and Kes & I will try to answer as best we can. Here goes…

1. Your 2 food covers are going to become the body of the bird – top & bottom, joined in the middle.  You’ll need to cut openings for your child’s head, feet & arms. We started out using a heavy duty scissors, but after the scissors broke we quickly realized the plastic is stronger than it looks.  So out came the rotary tool, which made pretty easy work of it.  If there is one thing we learned about this step it’s measure, measure and measure again.  And when you’re done taking super accurate measurements, make sure you mark them correctly before you start cutting. Or you could end up having to do a little hot glue repair. Which TOTALLY didn’t happen to me.

Its a good idea to keep the openings small to start, then dry fit & adjust the sizes as needed.

Side note: Doing the actual dry fit is MUCH easier than getting your child to stand still long enough to take a picture of it.

Attach the top & bottom pieces of your bird by first using hot glue to hold it in place. Then using the rotary tool, drill holes at 4 opposing points & secure with cable ties.  Another dry fit for comfort at this point is probably a good idea. And it gives you a chance to laugh at your child as he runs around the house like a giant globe.  Or maybe that’s just us…

TIP: Use duct tape to cover your cut edges.  It’ll provide extra support and also make them nice & smooth to keep your little one from getting scratched by raw plastic.

Cover your bird body with fabric.  If you’re making the traditional Bomb bird, you’ll need to cover the entire sphere.  If you’re set on the awesomeness that is the Obi Wan Kenobi bird, then you can be lazy go the easy route & only cover the front half.  Obi’s cloak will cover the back (more on that later).Once all of the black fabric is attached to the body with hot glue, you’re ready to make Obi’s tunic.  Cut the tan fabric in half, and drape each piece across the body, criss crossing in the front and hot glue it in place.

Use the foam sheets to make your iconic Angry Birds face. I used the duct tape roll for rough sizing on the eyes, but really its best to just eyeball it & experiment using a picture for comparison until you get the proportions just right.  I also doubled up on the eyebrows so they would be nice & thick & stand up nicely.  Once you’re happy with the pieces, simply attach them to the body with hot glue.

As any Angry Birds enthusiast (or 4 year old in our case) will tell you, the black bird is a bomb. So that little antennae looking thing that sticks out the top of it’s head?  Well that’s the fuse of course! Duh! And we can’t have a Black Angry Bird  costume without a fuse… So to make the fuse – which will essentially be your child’s head – we simply got a black ski mask for Kash to wear, then used a couple of yellow foam sheets to make him a ‘crown’ of sorts to sit on his head.

For Obi’s cloak, I simply used one of Kes’ old t-shirts & cut it open starting at the bottom, cutting up the side seam & through the under side of one sleeve.  Be sure to leave the neck hole in tact so that it can go over your child’s head.  Attach the edge of the open sleeve to the top of the bird’s head.  I used a couple of foam sheets inside the sleeve to prop it up to give it that ‘hooded overhang’ feel.***I apologize for the lack of progress pics for the last couple of steps but by this point I was a little craft-happy & excited to be almost done.

And there you have it!

As an added touch I gave him a little lightsaber. Because…you know, I had to.  To make that, I just took one of Kash’s foam glow sticks that he had from last Canada Day & added a couple of grey foam sheets to it to make a handle & a little red foam dot for the button. 🙂

So what do you think?  Is he worthy of the force? Ready to bust some Piggies?